Coin collecting apparatus



Oct. 12, 1937. w. A. BOCKISCH 2,095,541

COIN COLLECTING APPARATUS Filed July 11, 1936 Hal 4 L /3 g g g 20 /9 I 47 22 X 39 J I 36 27 Mam ATTORNEY Patenred Oct. 12, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT QFiE COIN COLLECTING APPARATUS Application July 11,

7 Claims.

This invention relates to coin collecting apparatus, particularly of the type for use in a telephone pay station.

In the usual type of telephone coin collector as exemplified in the disclosure of the O. F. Forsberg U. S. Patent 1,043,219, issued November 5, 1912, deposited coins after striking a coin trigger are temporarily retained upon a coin trap and subsequently directed into a collect chute or a refund chute, depending upon whether the desired telephone connection is established. The purpose of the coin trigger is to close a circuit to place under the control of the remote operator a polarized electromagnet which when operated causes a pivotal armature thereof to be actuated which when operated in one direction effects a refund of the deposited coin and when operated in the opposite direction collects the deposited coin. The coin trigger is usually pivoted externally of the coin passage and is normally maintained in its non-operated position by a suitable counterbalance. The arrangement is also such that the coin trigger after operation by a deposited coin will not be restored until the electromagnet is operated.

Objects of this invention are to provide simple and effective resilient stop means and a mounting therefor for cushioning the trigger in its movement in either direction in order to improve the operating characteristics thereof and further to minimize the danger of false operation of the trigger in the absence of a deposited coin.

In accordance with the above objects, the invention contemplates, in one embodiment thereof, a fiat spring plate having integral leaf spring extensions with an end of each extension predeterminedly operatively positionedrelative to the coin trigger to provide respectively cushionor resilient stop means for the trigger for each direction of movement thereof. The plate is adapted to surround the shank of a pivot screw for the electromagnet armature and is clamped against a stationary support by the screw head. A straight edge on the plate and an extension thereof closely associated with surfaces of the support serve to supplement the clamping action of the screw to maintain the plate and thereby the leaf spring extensions integral therewith in predetermined operative positions relative to the trigger. 1

The invention will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. Us a fragmentary view, partly in section,

1936, Serial No. 90,086

of the central part of a telephone coin collecting apparatus embodying the features of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical section, on an enlarged scale, taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section taken along the line 33 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is an elevational view on an enlarged scale of the spring plate for cushioning the coin trigger in its movement in either direction.

Referring now to the drawing, Fig. 1 shows a portion of a telephone coin collector of the general type disclosed in the above mentioned Forsberg patent,'to which reference is made for further details as to its construction and mode of operation. A coin deposited by a subscriber after passage through a coin chute it (Fig. 1) drops into a coin hopper ii, actuates a coin trigger l2 and is temporarily retained upon a coin trap l3. The actuation of the trigger I2 releases a spring M of a contact spring pile-up ll mounted on an upwardly extending portion I8 of a bridge plate l9 which extends between coils of a polarized electromagnet 29. The release of the spring I enables a circuit to be closed through the windings of the electromagnet 21] whereby the remote central office operator by an arrangement disclosed in theForsberg patent may subsequently cause the coin on trap 13 to be directed into a refund or a collect chute depending upon the polarity of the current applied to the electromagnet 29.

The electromagnet 29 comprises coils 2i and 22 having magnetic material cores and is mounted'on a piece of magnetic material forming a part of the magnetic circuit. The cores terminate in pole pieces 25 and 26, which extend through the bridge plate It. A piece of magnetic material 21 extends from the piece upon which the coils are mounted to just under the middle portion of an armature 28 to complete the magnetic circuit.

A yoke shaped metallic piece 29 (Fig. 3) is fixed to the upper face of the armature 28, the yoke piece having narrow arms extending down the side of the armature which provide bearings into which the inner ends of trunnion The arm 34 is forked at its lower end 35 (Fig. l) to engage an extension 36 of a supporting vane 39 for the coin trap I3. Short downwardly projecting arms 40 (Fig. 2) of the member 33 are adapted to contact with the armature 28 after a small movement of the armature. Other downwardly projecting arms of the member contact with the bridge plate I9 and act as stop members for the member 33.

Independently movable armature restoring arms 42 and 43 are also pivotally mounted on the trunnion screws 32 above the member 33 which is movable with the armature 28 and are adapted to be moved by the member, the arms each having a lug 46 (Fig. 2) on its lower surface in contact with the upper surface of the member 33. Springs 47 (Fig. 1) are attached to the arms 42 and 43, at one end and to extensions of the bridge plate l9 at the other end. These springs 41 function through the restoring arms 42 and 43 to restore the armature 28 to its normal position after movement in either direction. The restoring arms 42 and 43 are provided with downwardly extending end arms 48 (Fig. 2) which contact the electromagnet pole pieces 25 and 26 to act as stop members.

The spring I4 of the contact spring pile-up I1 is tensioned to force the other springs together and against a bifurcated angle piece 49 (Fig. 3) which together with the coin trigger are pivoted on a rod 50 which is supported on two lugs 53 and 54 (Fig. 2) which are extensions of the bridge plate I9.

At its free end the tensioned pile-up spring I4 is provided with a downwardly projecting extension 55 adapted to cooperate with a cam portion 56 of the trigger I2. When the trigger is in its upper and normal position its cam portion 56 contacts with the spring extension 55 to restrain the spring I4 from forcing the contacts together thereby holding the circuit open. When the trigger is struck by a deposited coin it moves to its lower and operated position, the cam portion 56 of the trigger releasing the spring I4, which then being unrestrained, forces the contact spring of the pile-up I'I together and causes a circuit to be established through the coils 2I and 22 of the electromagnet 20. Thereafter the extension 55 of the spring I4 acts as a pawl to hold the trigger in its lowered position. The circuit established is under the control of the remote operator who may now complete the energization circuit through the electromagnet whereby the armature 23 is moved either clockwise or counterclockwise about its trunnion screws 32 depending on whether the deposited coin is to be refunded or collected.

Furcations 58 and 59 of the bifurcated angle piece 49 (Fig. 3) are provided with bent over portions 66 adapted to contact with the restoring arms 42 and 43, respectively, so that if either restoring arm is moved upwardly furcations 58.

and 59 of the angle piece 49 are also moved upwardly and the upright portion of the angle piece is forced against the contact spring pile-up I 7 thereby moving extension 55 of the spring I4 away from the cam portion 56 of the coin trigger I2, the trigger thereupon returning to its normal position due to the weight of a counterbalance portion BI of the trigger.

In order to minimize the danger of false operation of the coin trigger I2 by blows on the housing and further to reduce the danger that the trigger will stick to the adjacent bridge plate and thus fail to restore at the proper time, im-

proved resilient stop means and a novel mounting therefor are provided to limit both the upward and downward movement of the trigger. The means preferably used to accomplish this comprises an irregularly shaped resilient plate 62 (Fig. 4) of suitable metal, which in the present embodiment is formed of phosphor bronze of adequate thickness and resiliency. Extending from and integral with the spring plate 62 are arms or leaf springs 63 and 64, each end of which serves as a cushion or resilient stop means for movement of the trigger in one direction. The plate 62 is formed with an aperture 65 adapted to receive the shank of the rear armature trunnion screw 32. Also, integral with the plate is a third arm 68 extending at right angles to the leaf spring arm 54 and between these arms the plate is'formed with a straight edge 69.

As clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3 the resilient plate 62 is clamped to the bridge plate I9 by the head of the rear trunnion screw 32, the shank of the screw passing through the aperture 65 of the plate and the arm 68 and the straight edge 69 are in close or abutting relation with a vertical edge and lower face, respectively, of an extension 10 of the bridge plate. The leaf spring arm 63 it will be observed, as viewed in Fig. 2, is bent backwards and to the right of the edge of the bridge plate extension 10 which is opposite the edge thereof with which the arm 68 of the 'plate 62 is associated. The end of the spring arm 63 in the normal or upper position of the trigger I2 contacts with the lower edge of an arm of the counterbalance portion 6! of the trigger to provide a resilient stop member for the trigger at the end of its restoring movement. A stop member for the trigger at the end of its movement in the opposite direction is provided by the'leaf spring arm 64 of the resilient plate 62 which extends horizontally along the rear face of the bridge plate I9 with its free end unsupported thereby and disposed in the path of a portion H of the trigger. It will be apparent from Figs. 2 and 3 that the leaf spring arm 64 provides a resilient stop member for the trigger in its downward movement to its operated position since the portion H of the trigger will strike the spring arm when the trigger is knocked downwardly by a deposited coin.

It will be apparent that the above describedresilient stop means for positively cushioning the trigger in its movement in either direction constructed from an integral resilient plate is simple and economical to manufacture. Also that the leaf spring arms may be easily adjusted relative to the portions of the trigger with which they contact to provide the desired cushioning effect. Furthermore, due to the arm and the straight edge which are closely associated with surfaces of the stationary bridge plate, which arrangement supplements the clamping action of the pivot screw head for the armature on the resilient plate, the leaf spring arms will be positively maintained in their adjusted operated positions relative to the trigger. In addition, the particular construction of the stop means and the method of mounting it in position afford an arrangement whereby it may be readily mounted on the coin collector apparatus, or replaced, and also without providing special means for fixing it in position.

Although the embodiment of this invention as herein illustrated and described is particularly well adapted for use in connection with telephone pay station coin collectors, it should be understood that the invention is capable of other applications and should be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A coin collector comprising a coin passage, a pivotal coin trigger having an arm projecting into said passage for operation by a deposited coin, said trigger having a counterbalance, and a fixed flat resilient plate having integral extensions disposed substantially at right angles to each other providing resilient stop means for said trigger for trigger movement in either direction.

2. A coin collector comprising a coin passage, a support, a pivotalcoin trigger carried by said support having an arm projecting into said passage for operation by a deposited coin, said trigger having a counterbalance, a flat resilient plate clamped to said support having integral extensions providing resilient stop means for said trigger for trigger movement in either direction, and means for clamping. said plate to said support, said plate having an integral extension cooperating with said support for maintaining said stop means of said plate in predetermined operative positions relative to said trigger.

3. A telephone coin collector comprising a coin passage, contacts for closing a central office circuit, means including an electromagnet for con trolling from the central oifice the disposition of a coin upon passing through said passage, a pivotal armature for said electromagnet, a support for said armature, means for pivoting saidarmature on said support, a pivotal coin trigger having an arm projecting into said passage for operation by a deposited coin for closing said contacts, said trigger having a counterbalance, and a fiat resilient plate adapted to be clamped to saidsupport by said armature pivoting means having integral extensions providing resilient stop means for said trigger for trigger movement in either direction.

4. A telephone coin collector, comprising a coin passage, contacts for closing a central oflice circuit, means including an electromagnet for controlling from the central oflice the disposition of a coin upon passing through said passage, a pivotal armature for said electromagnet, a support for said armature, a shouldered member forpivoting said armature on said support, a pivotal coin triggerhaving an arm projecting into said passage for operation by a deposited coin for closing said contacts, said trigger having a counterbalance, arid a flat plate composed of spring material adapted to be clampedbetween opposed surfaces of said support and the shoulder of said armature pivoting member, said plate having integral leaf spring extensions providing resilient stop means for cushioning said trigger for trigger movement in either direction.

5. In a telephone coin collector, a support, a coin trigger pivotally mounted thereon, and a cushioning device for said trigger, said device comprising a fiat plate of resilient material having an integral arm extending in the plane thereof in a position to engage the trigger at the end of motion thereof in one direction and an integral armextending angularly from the plate at substantially right angles to the first mentioned arm in a position to engage the trigger at the end of motion thereof in the other direction.

6. In a telephone coin collector, a support, a 7

coin trigger pivotally mounted thereon, a cushioning device for said trigger, said device comprising a fiat plate of resilient material, an integral arm extending in a position to engage the trigger at the end of motion thereof in one direction and an integral arm extending in a position to engage the trigger at the end of motion thereof in the other direction, said support having two adjacent surfaces at an angle to each other and said plate having adjacent edges arranged at an angle to fit said surfaces, and means for securing the plate with said edges abutting said surfaces.

'7. A telephone coin collector comprising a coin passage, contacts for closing acentral office circuit, means including an electromagnet for controlling from the central office the disposition of a coin upon passing through said passage, a pivotal armature for said electromagnet, a support for said armature having an angular extension, a headed screw for pivoting said armature on said support, a pivotal coin trigger having an arm projecting into said passage for operation by a deposited coin for closing said contacts, said trigger having a counterbalance, and a fiat resilient plate adapted to be clamped between opposed surfaces of said support and the head of said armature pivoting screw, said plate having integral leaf spring extensions providing resilient stop means for cushioning said triggerfor trigger movement in either direction, said platehaving an integral extension and an edge cooperating with said angular extension of said support for maintaining said resilient stop means of said plate in predetermined positions relative to said trigger.

WALTER A. BOCKISCI-I. 

